Whose Choice Anyway

because the baby was not expected to survive beyond the birth. 21 weeks is alleged to be too young for the lungs to function unaided. When unpoisoned, the young child is usually battered to death by the severity of the contractions and the chances of survival are slim. The mother endures a more painful labour than normal because her cervix does not gradually dilate as in a normal birth. She does give birth, but to a dead baby.

The operation, however distressing for mother and staff, was routine. The registrar induced the birth and then left the hospital for the night. The consultant was not at the hospital. The woman was left in the care of the nurses and a junior doctor. All should have proceeded normally. The mother gave birth during the night. The nurses placed the baby's body in a kidney dish and covered it with a cloth. The doctor was called from his sleep and checked that the mother was in good health.

No one checked the baby. This is usual procedure. The doctor returned to his bed.

He was called about forty-five minutes later by the nurses. They were extremely distressed. The baby, a little girl, was gasping for breath and struggling for life.

Could he come to the ward urgently? On arrival, the doctor examined the baby.

Breathing was slow, spasmodic, and gasping, but her pulse and heart beat were unusually high. If he was going to treat her she would need artificial help to breathe, but would she survive? The gestation was assumed to have been 21 weeks, but that might be wrong. She had survived birth for forty minutes, but the respiratory equipment was in another building, it would take time to carry her there; she might already be starved of oxygen, she might be brain damaged; was it worth it?

No one can criticise the doctor for his decision. With hindsight we can all say that more should have been done. It is impossible to imagine the pressure he must have been under. He might have been on duty for hours and had been roused from his sleep. Perhaps at the back of his mind was the thought that the baby was an abortion, not meant to survive. He decided to do nothing. The baby was left and he returned to bed.

He was called back by the nurses about an hour later. The baby was still alive and he had to do something. He examined her again. The option of phoning the consultant was considered and rejected. The doctor again decided to do nothing, and so after three hours, without aid of any kind, the baby girl gave up her struggle for life. The body was bundled into a sack and incinerated - usual procedure for an abortion.

It was decided that the mother should not be told what had happened. The birth was never registered, the death never certified. When the case became public knowledge, Douglas Hogg MP, a minister in the Home Office and a hostile opponent of my Bill, refused the local coroner's request that an inquest be held. For